HBD, ading ko!

Although I am sleeping so much better since I have introduced the wonderful essential oil of lavender into my life, I could not go back to sleep after waking up at a few minutes ago at 5am! Oh well, now that I am up...I wanted to take the time to tell the whole world that it's my "baby" brother's 28th birthday today! He may be taller than me, he might be getting married before me, but he is still and will forever be my "baby" brother! :)

I am so proud of this guy. Although we have had our ups and our downs, I know that when it comes down to it, I can count on my brother to have my back. He doesn't always show that he cares me outwardly...but in the little things that he does and remembers about me. And I remember there was a time where that use to frustrate me because for a long time, I thought that he was just "annoyed" with me in many different ways...but he's a guy and guys just act differently than girls...and my brother is no different. I know that my brother cares because he knows enough to know when I really need him...when it's really serious. He may be my baby brother...but in many ways he acts like an older brother.

This year will be a very exciting year for him. I pray for him because he is in the process of taking his tests to be an accountant. He will also be getting married this year...and that in itself is pretty damn exciting. :)

Happy birthday, ading ko...I hope you have an amazing year. I love you. 

Five Little Pumpkins

I am not quite sure who wrote the poem Five Little Pumpkins...but since we will be going to pumpkin patch this coming up Thursday, I thought it best to get the children thinking "pumpkins" and so I am in the process of teaching them this cute little finger play poem...and had them to a craft to go with it! The poem goes like this....

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,

The first one said, "Oh my, it's getting late!"

The second one said, "There are witches in the air!"

The third one said, "But I don't care!"

The fourth one said, "Lets run and run and run!"

The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"

OoOoO went the wind and OUT went the lights

And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

For craft time, I let the little ones make their own interpretation of the 5 little pumpkins on the gate. I am hoping to get their fine motor skills strengthen by allowing them to glow the pieces on themselves. Also, I let them glue and place the pieces wherever they wanted.

They had fun, and they actually were pretty good with the glueing! I only had to remind them a few times that they don't need to put too much glue...and they caught on pretty fast. :)

Overall, I am super proud of their work...and they are getting pretty excited about the Pumpkin Patch this coming up Thursday, and I have to admit...I'm pretty excited too! :)

Happy Anniversary!

Well, that was a good power nap! I woke up and felt so bad that I forgot to mention how happy I was for my sister and her hubby in my last post! But today is my sister and her husbands 6th year anniversary! I am so happy for them two! They met my first year in college which is more than 10 years ago now! Wow...am I really that old! But they got married in 2008...and so this year makes it 6th year married and I couldn't be more happy for my sister!

They gave me and amazing DollGirl and another one is on his way! I am so happy for my sister...she did good. *laughs*...But seriously, she really did. I always tell her that one day I hope that I will be able to give her a brother-in-law that she can also call a brother and that she can count on the way that I see Kuya Neal as my brother. I can only hope for a love like theirs. They are SO good for each other...and I am super excited for them and their future. 

I am so glad that I moved here with them 4 years ago...it has brought me closer to my sister and brothers and I love my family. Congratulations you two...I am SUPER happy for you! :)

Gorgeous!

I worked super late last night and then I just got home just a few minutes ago...and before I knocked out, I wanted to post up some of the beautiful flowers that I got to work with! These are pictures from last night and also this morning.

We had the privilege to design two wedding today...and wow, both weddings were full of color and just so beautiful and happy looking! What am I saying, nearly all the weddings that I've work have always been so unique and gorgeous! :) I so love my Passion Roots job! I am so blessed to be able to work with amazing people. Even though we all have our own special jobs with the company, I love when we are all together...because my boss, Shilhi (who is also like a sister to me...well, IS a sister to me!) makes sure before she hires anyone that we would all get together. One thing that I love about her is that she has an eye for potential in people. She is an amazing person to talk to, and she is just an amazing person to work with. She takes the time for you out of her busy schedule...and she is one of the most genuine person I know! AND she is SUPER talented and totally humble about it. I love how she loves to share her work with anyone who is willing to learn. She is pretty amazing. Everyone at my job is pretty amazing. Like I said, I love my job.

Well, since I'm pretty tired this time around, I will just go ahead a post some of the pictures that I was able to take and then take a nap so that I can do some things before going to my other job tomorrow!

Isn't this simply GORGEOUS! I love the colors! I love the texture! I even love the gold container that we used for the arrangement! The colors are just so happy looking...and I adore roses and orchids! :)

Like I said earlier...we were doing two weddings at the same time...and this pieces just took my breath away! Look how happy those yellows are! :)

Oh goodness...how can you be sad when you are around such beautiful flowers! :)

The textures are amazing...!

And here is the place where all the magic is created. I love creating. I love flowers. I love my job. :)

Kailua SDA Church.

I went to church today at Kailua SDA Church. It's actually the church that Hawaiian Mission Acadamy Windward side is held...and so it's a very familiar church to me. I rarely go, but I'm pretty familiar with it. :) My sister and her husband actually are gone since yesterday...wait, no Thursday because this is their anniversary weekend and they went to Maui...this is their first time leaving their little daughter behind...and I know that my sister misses her baby girl a lot. 

But it's good that my parents are her so that they can help watch little DollGirl. :) I know that my DollGirl adore her Lolo, and I don't blame her because I was once a "daddy's girl" and got along well with my dad. I did get along with my mom...but not as much as my dad. Don't get me wrong! I love them equally...! But my niece with quite attached to my dad to the point where she is possessive over him and won't let me hug my daddy! *laughs* Sorry, little one...he was MY daddy first! *laughs* It's okay, at least I have learned how to share. :)

These pictures crack me up because I had asked her to smile at her Lola and she is just like me...making faces instead of smiling at the camera! *laughs* Oh my days...I love this little monkey to the moon and back and around the world a million and infinity times! She is so silly! She wore the dress that I gave her for her birthday today, so that is cool. She has my heart...and I'm super excited for her brother to come along...but for now, I will enjoy spending time with my lil DollGirl whenever I can. :)

Oh yeah, I also needed to paint my nails today...and so after a long while, I was able to come up with this quick design before I have to get ready to go to work. I wanted to write this post before I left for my Passion Roots job...but yes, I was really feeling like green...and so green it is. :) 

Flowers.

I saw this really cute poem online that I wanted the kids to learn. It's about covering your mouth when you cough and sneeze...and so I wrote it out on a piece of paper...and it went like this:

Cover you cough,

Cover your sneeze,

This is the way 

We stay healthy, please!

One thing that I have noticed about this group of kids, is that they have not had the opportunities to exercise their imagination when it does to art. They still are in that stage where they are scribbling. So I really wanted them to learn how to put meaning in their writing, even if it's just drawing their face, a flower, a picture. 

So with that in mind, I have encouraged them to draw faces on a circular piece of paper. Even then, I had to explain to them how to draw a face..."where are your eyes, how about your nose...what other things do you find on your face?! Could you draw that?!" I know that it will take time, but I have no doubt that they will get it. 

So I do try to provide them with opportunities that they can draw, actually draw. I think that they are actually getting now that I want them to draw a picture...because although I have no problem with scribbles because that is where it all starts, I know that they have the capabilities that they can actually draw a picture. I think they also need to be giving time to just paint...with no direction, but what they want to draw...and actual picture that tells a story. They are old enough to be able to do that. So that is what I'm working on with them.

They did a pretty good job with this project. I usually like doing open-ended part projects...but for now, I need them to learn to actually draw...instead of always just scribbling to get it down with as fast as they can. 

They really wanted me to do one...and I did have an extra of the project because one of my kids was not able to come into school...so I told them that I would only draw the things that they told me to draw...so I drew the different things things that they told me to draw.

I do not like making an example for my kids to copy, but I did do mine after everyone was done and they told me what to draw...I do like how they are proud of their work though...they want me to post their art up around my room. I know that they had a hard time with letting me do that during the first month, because they wanted to take their artwork home. But now they want to show off their work...and have it decorate the room. So that is good. :)

Well, I know that this month, we have a lot of weddings...and I know that I'll be working a lot with Passion Roots...but no complains...I need to bring in that extra dough for the holidays! *laughs*...but today, I did a LOT of processing of the flowers!

When I talk to my friends and they ask me what is so important about processing the flowers...why can't I just work with what I just get...because we get our flowers overseas and they have most likely been out of water for at least a day, and basically we need to get them revived and open for when we use them. Ideally, it would be nice if our flowers were processed 6+ hours before we will actually use them. Most times we like to let them sit for at least a day to get them to their full potential.

This is how it looks like when we first get the flowers. Just boxes and boxes of bunches of flowers (obviously, these ones are roses). We try to process them as soon as we get them...the faster they get into water and properly processed, the better our chances are that we will work with amazing flowers the next day or in a few hours...

I like the get the same flowers out as much as I can...and then we stripe most, but not all the leaves...slant cut the bottom of the roses...(and in this case) quick the roses for about 30 seconds before putting them in water...

Each type of flower has their own special way to be processed to get them to be at their full potential. I personally like processing flowers. Especially after a long day...coming into an AC room with just bunches of beautiful flowers and just watching them come out of their box all closed up and looking about to die...and then even in just one or two hours, you can see the flowers open and look alive. It's just so beautiful. Something about flowers just makes me smile.

I love flowers. My favorite flowers are the little unknown Billy Balls...but roses...any kine roses...just makes me smile. I think that they can smell like candy! *laughs*....and today working with all these beautiful roses just made me smile....and we all know that I love the color PINK! :)

Small things with Great Love.

It's the first of the month and I am super excited for this month! This month's theme at the school is Health and Safety, and I have a lot of things that I want to do with the kids. We also will be having three field trips this month and picture day will also happen this month. I'm pretty sure that there will be other happenings this month...but for now...it's the first of the month and I am entering into this month with a positive mind.

When I started at this new place, I found this cute little day calendar that I like to use...and this was what the saying was for today..."We can do no great things-only small things with great love."--Mother Teresa. She was a good person...and the world lost a good, humble, beautiful person when she passed.

Today, the kids really wanted to paint on the wooden blocks that I had in my room and I allowed them to choose their own colors....and they could also add the "pretties" while the paint was wet. I told them that they could take their beautiful pieces of artwork home...however, I started a habit where I would decorate the classroom with their artwork and they wanted me to put up their painting ...and so I did. :)